McKenna Consultants have made the game “Build Your Own Agile Manifesto” freely available for you to download and use in your organisations.
In our popular Introduction to Agile Software Development training course, this game has proved to be fun, engaging and useful for establishing the knowledge and experience level of your group!
To run the game, simply:
- Download the Build Your Own Agile Manifesto template.
- Divide the group into small groups of no more than 3
- Give them the Build Your Own Manifesto handout – explain that 4 of the phrases are actually not needed.
- Give the groups 15-20 mins to construct what they believe to be the agile manifesto
- One group at a time, present back to the room
We would love to hear how you get on with this!
Why We Created This Game
The "Build Your Own Agile Manifesto" game grew out of a simple observation: teams adopt agile more effectively when they understand and own the principles behind it. Reading the Agile Manifesto is a useful starting point, but discussing, debating, and personalising it creates genuine buy-in.
We originally developed this exercise for our Introduction to Agile training courses. It proved so effective at sparking meaningful team conversations that we decided to make it freely available as a download. Since its release, it has been used by teams across the UK and internationally — in software development, marketing, HR, and operations contexts.
Tips for Running a Great Session
Based on facilitating this exercise dozens of times, here are our recommendations for getting the most out of it:
Set the context. Spend five minutes introducing the original Agile Manifesto and its history before starting the exercise. This gives participants a foundation to build on.
Encourage debate. The value of the exercise is in the conversation, not the final output. If the team agrees too quickly, challenge them — ask them to consider scenarios where their chosen values might conflict.
Time-box ruthlessly. Without time pressure, discussions drift. Give teams 10 minutes per value statement and stick to it.
Display the result. Once the team has their manifesto, print it and put it on the wall. A manifesto that lives in a shared drive is a manifesto that gets forgotten.
For more team exercises, try our agile team health check — another practical tool for improving team performance.
See It in Action
We have published a separate post showing how this exercise played out in practice with teams at 4Com plc, including photos from the session. You can also read the original Build Your Own Manifesto post for more background on the game's design.
If you would like us to facilitate this exercise with your team, explore our agile services or book a free consultation.
